Knitting needle



Filed March 21, 1932 ly z lnvelit'or ZSE/V L. Maw/v0.

A itorney Patented June 21, 1932 PATENT FFECE BEN L. MALKIND, OF LONGISLAND CITY, NEW YORK KNITTING NEEDLE Application filed March 21, 1932.Serial No. 600,350.

This invention relates to improvements in knitting needles and hasparticular reference to a holder therefor.

The primary object of the invention resides 5 in a holder for knittingneedles for the mending of runs in stockings or other knitted fabricsand is of the well known type embodying a body member having a hook onone end thereof and a latch member pivoted to said body member, the freeends of the latch member being adapted to fly up and down as the needleis moved forward and backward through the fabric under repair, thusopening and closing the hook to knit the ladder threads of the runsGreat diffi culty has been experienced in the use of such needles as itis possible for an expert operator to pick up two or more ladder threadsat a time instead of a single thread even though proceeding at a slowspeed, thus an imperfect repair job results therefrom. My improvedholder embodies means for limiting the forward movement of the needle toprevent more than one cross thread from being picked up on eachoperation which enables an unskilled person to rapidly actuate theneedle without fear of producing imperfect chain stitches.

Another object of the invention is to provide a knitting needle holderfor receiving and holding knitting needles of different sizes and inwhich the needle receiving end is formed with a nose for abuttingengagement with the ladder thread for limiting the forward movement ofthe needle to cause the hook thereof to engage a single thread on eachactuation thereof. 7

A further object is the provision of a knitting needle holder which isconstructed of a single blank of bendable metal, bent into substantiallypear shape in cross section to provide a pair of resilient innerclamping walls for the reception and gripping of the needle to be held,and opposed rounded outer walls to permit the fingers of the hand of anoperator to comfortably grip the holder when in manual use.

With these and other objects in view, the invention resides in thecertain novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, theessential features of which will be hereinafter fully described, areparticularly pointed out in the appended claims, and

are illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of my improved knitting needle holdershowing a knitting needle supported therein.

F igure 2 is a side elevational view thereof. I

abutting engagement with one of the ladder threads for limiting forwardand downward movement of the holder when in use. Figure 7 is an enlargedvertical transverse sectional view on the line 77 of Figure 5. Figure 8is a fragmentary top plan view of a slightly modified form ofconstruction.

Figure 9 is a side elevational view of the form shown in Figure 8.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters, the numeral 10designates my improved knitting needle holder in its entirety and inFigures 1 to 7 inclusive, the said holder is constructed of a singleblank of'bendable metal to provide an elongated body 11. The body 11 issubstantially pear shape in cross section as shown in Figure 4 of thedrawing and is formed by bending the single blank of material centrallyof its length to provide a pair of fiat inner resilient walls 12-12which are diametrically recessed to provide coacting clamping jaws 13-13while the said blank material is further bent outwardly and downwardlyto provide outer rounded or curved side walls 14-14 which meet betweenthe central fold of the blank as shown in Figures 3 and 4 of thedrawing. The outer walls 1414= bulge outwardly and impart a pear orheart shape to the body 11 in cross section. The forward end of the bodymember 11 is provided with a forwardly extending nose 15 which isdisposed above, and which extends slightly below the plane of thelongitudinal axis of the clamping jaws 1313 and designated in Figures 2and 3, and which nose is formed by cutting away the forward ends of theouter side walls 14+-1 l as at 16 and also cutting out the adjacent endsof the inner walls l212 as at 17. The cutaway portion 16 of the outerwall is set back from the cut-.

away portion 17 of the inner wall and both cutaway portions constitute agraceful compound curve for a purpose to be presently explained. Thenose 15 is slotted as at 18, the side walls of which flare outwardly inopposite directions as at 19 to accommodate the latch of the knittingneedle when in posi- I tion within the holder as will now be explained.The front face of the nose 15 is concaved to provide a seat for theabutment of the ladder thread and which prevents the next adjacentladder thread from riding under the nose and over the latch in the openposition in the same manner as that in which the loop is formed thuspreventing an imperfect stitch.

The conventional form of knitting needle is shown by the referencenumeral 20 and includes an elongated shank 21, one end of whichterminates in a hook 22, while pivoted to the shank adjacent the openend of the hook is apivoted latch 23 which is alternately movable intoengagement with the hook for opening and closing the same during aknitting operation. When the knitting needle is attached to the holder11 by the insertion of the shank 21 between the resilient jaws 1313, thehook end is disposed adjacent the nose 15 as shown in the drawing whilethe slot 18 above accommodates the backward movement of the latch 23when moved to open position.

The workings of a knitting needle of the type shown is well known in theart and it is not believed necessary to go into the details of theoperation of the same but the general operation will be mentioned tobring out the advantages of myholder in connection therewith during use.It will be appreciated that the fabric A to be repaired is first placedunder a slight tension whereupon the hook end 22 of the needle is forcedinto the fabric A just back of one of the last loops of the run orravelling after which the tension on the fabric is increased. The needleand holder are then pushed downwardly so that the loop B slips over thehook and also over the latch 23 with the latch in a backward openposition and rides back onto the shank to clear the latch. Upon theupward stroke, the latch moves to a closed position to cast the loopover the hook, and in the interim the hook has picked up the nextadjacent ladder thread for forming the next loop. On the clownwardstroke, the nose 15 of the holder abuts the ladder thread C, thuslimiting the forward and downward movement of the needle to prevent thehook 22 from engaging more than a single ladder thread on each pickupoperation. By limiting the forward and downward stroke of the needle, amore rapid operation may be produced without fear of the hook 22grasping more than a single ladder thread on each pickup stroke. This isbelieved'to be a decided advantage over the prior type of knittingneedle wherein no means are provided for limiting the length of thestroke, thus an operator was obliged to work slowly in order to avoidproducing improper chain stitches during the repair of runs or ravellingin knitted fabrics.

By constructing theholder member in the manner described, it is possibleto insert needles of various sizes into the jaws 13 which may beaccomplished by either forcing the shank of the needle therein or byinserting a knife or like implement between the top portions of theinner side walls 12 to spread the jaws to accommodate the size of theneedle shank.

In Figures 8 and 9 of the drawing the same principle is involved but inthis form I provide a solid body 11', the forward end of i which is cutaway as at 16 to form a forwardly extending nose 15 in which an inwardlyextending slot 18 is provided for the reception of the latch of theneedle supported in the body 11 'byinsertion of the same into a bore 18.provided axially therein. This form of holder may be used in knittingmachines wherein means are provided for imparting reciprocation to theholder during knitting operation in lieu-of manual use of the holderasshown in the preferred form in Figures 1 to 7 inclusive.

It might be mentioned that the cutaway portions 16 and 17 in thepreferred form and 16 in the modified form provide a clearance for theforward ends of the holder to prevent the same from contact with theknitted fabric during the knitting operation. In the preferred form thecurved edges of the cutaway portion of the wallsserve to strengthen thewalls of a slot 18 to prevent accidental disalinement of the walls whichwould interfere with the free movement of the latch and loop threadsduring a knitting operation.

WVhile I have shown and described what I deem to be the most desirableembodiment of my invention, it will be understood that various detailsin construction may be resorted to if desired and I do not limit myselfto the exact details shown nor to anything less than the whole of myinvention limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a holder element including an elongated handle havinga socket in the forward end thereof, a knitting needle having a shankextending in the said socket, a portion of theforward end of said handlecut away to provide a nose disposed above and slightly below the planeof the axis of said socket to act as a stop and the outer face of saidnose being concaved for abutting engagement with the ladder threads of aravel or run in a piece of knitted fabric for limiting forward movementof the needle to prevent picking up of more than one ladder thread oneach complete actuation of the needle during use of the same.

2. In combination, a holder element including an elongated handle havinga socket in the forward end thereof, a knitting needle having a shankextending in the said socket,

a portion of the forward end of said handle cut away to provide a nosedisposed above the plane and slightly below the axis of said socket toact as a stop for abutting engagement with the ladder threads of a ravelor run in a piece of knitted fabric for limiting forward movement of theneedle toprevent picln'ng up of more than one ladder thread on eachcomplete actuation of the needle during use of the same, and a slotprovided in said nose, the walls of which flare outwardly to accommodatethe latch of said needle upon its backward movement.

3. A knitting needle holder comprising an elongated handle memberconstructed of a single length of bendable metal, bent upon itself alongits longitudinal center to provide a pair of resilient clamping wallshaving opposed recesses therein, the metal being bent to provideoutwardly curved side walls enclosing said inner clamping walls, theinner and outer walls being cut away atone end to provide a nose,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

Signed at New York city, in the county of 40 New York and State of NewYork, this 4th day of March, A. D. 1932.

BEN L. MALKIND.

